No Place Like Home, by Peter Mares

Staff review by Chris Saliba

A book on Australia's housing crisis is well overdue. Former ABC journalist Peter Mares takes up the task.

There are several competing stories for why Australia has such off-the-charts housing prices. One popular argument is that there is a great shortage of supply and we need to build more; another claims that the tax system (negative gearing and a general discount on capital gains tax) is the culprit. No Place Like Home gives a lucid overview of a complex problem, also putting a very human face on it, with chapters devoted to forgotten people, such as the homeless.

The major issue, as Peter Mares sees it, is a cultural one. We have learnt to think of housing primarily as a financial product, rather than as a home. Such thinking has led to some perverse outcomes. Across Melbourne, for example, some 82,000 dwellings lay empty. Apparently, it's deemed economically rational for owners to keep properties empty, rather than rent them out. The benefit is to be able to sell quickly and not be hampered by a 12 months lease. In Australia, we don't see investment in housing as a source of steady rental returns, but rather as a way to make quick capital gains.

Another problem is the creation of outer suburbs wholly dependent on cars. While these houses may be cheap, they are often energy inefficient and demand lots of travel time. They end up being very costly to live in. Mares argues that our middle ring suburbs could easily be further developed and it would be better to domicile people there, closer to public transport, schools and hospitals.

The book makes some interesting suggestions, the main one being a property tax that would divert funds into more public housing. Tenancy laws should also be changed to favour renters. Mares rightly points out that Australia's high housing prices are causing increasing inequality, which in turn is bad for social cohesion and the economy. We need to make changes, but this will be difficult and will take time to turn around.

No Place Like Home is highly recommended. It's humane, sympathetic and contains much common sense. Houses should be primarily for living in, with a secondary use as an investment. In Australia we seem to have gotten things back the front.

Release date 17th September

No Place Like Home, by Peter Mares. Published by Text. ISBN: 9781925603873  RRP: $32.99

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